Scottish homebrew competition winners brew award winning porter at Fyne Ales brewery.
As a prize for placing second in The Institute of Brewing and Distilling Scottish home brewing competition, home brewers Jacob Griffin and Chris Lewis got the chance to brew their winning beer, Zombier, at the award winning Fyne Ales brewery. The beer will be distributed by Fyne Ales with ten casks going to fuller Thompson pubs in Scotland September.
Jacob Griffins and Chris Lewis came second overall with their beer Zombier which also won best of category in Porters and Stouts. Zombier is a 6.9% strong Porter with an incredibly complex malt build, the most complex Fyne Ales have ever used, creating a very dark beer. Complex malt flavours with notes of coffee, chocolate and roast malt combine with Nugget and Junger hops to create a fantastically well balanced Porter with a surprisingly smooth finish.
After a briefing from head brewer Wil Wood, the two home brewers were given full control of brewing their beer. Jacob and Chris were put through their paces by the Fyne Ales brew team and were involved in the whole process of the brewing, from cleaning out the mash tun to adding the hops. After the days brewing Jacob commented,
“Getting to scale up our brewing to a commercial level in a brewery we consider to be the best in Scotland is an absolute privilege. With head brewer Will’s expertise adding to the process we are really excited to taste the final product and to see it on bars.”
The IBD Scottish section home brew competition and exhibition 2012 was held at Heriot Watt University. The competition saw over 50 beers entered across five categories, with winners chosen in each category with a first and second placed beer overall and a ‘best of show’ chosen by the public. Fyne Ales Director Jamie Delap and Head Brewer Will Wood, both judges in the competition, were very impressed with the standard of brewing in the competition. Jamie Delap remarked,
“It was a great privilege to be involved in the Judging of this year’s competition. The standard was incredibly high across the competition and shows that there is a positive future for the industry in Scotland with the brewing talent coming through. Zombier stood out as a beer with real commercial potential and we are delighted to help such talented young brewers brew their first beer for commercial release.”
Zombier will be launched at The Holyrood Bar in Edinburgh on the 5th of September.
Jake and Chris have been brewing for five years after becoming passionate about drinking cask ales in their local bars. After wishing to replicate and improve their favourite styles the pair began to experiment further with brewing and have won a number of awards. With aspirations to one day brew commercially, these brewers are definitely ones to watch for the future.
Fyne Ales is located on a working farm in Argyll at the head of Loch Fyne, an area renowned for its excellent natural produce. We are a team who are passionate about brewing outstanding and progressive craft beers. Combining only the best malted barley and hops from around the world with the soft highland water from the hills around the brewery, we make beers that are distinctive and full of flavour.
End